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Thursday, January 10, 2013

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‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2012 was such a trying year for me with the loss of a brother, the day to day grind of life, as well as the other tough trials and tribulations along the way I did however have the chance to acquaint myself with many outstanding Genealogist through social media and their creative blogs. I've loved reading all of them and selected a few for this past year as my choices for "Blog Of The Year, 2012".

The Jones Genealogist is a wonderful story teller, with 50+ years in his research he adds a level of narrative that's rarely seen.

With so many great blogs and bloggers in general, this was a tough list for me to compile. I set my limit at five because, I could keep going all day. If you don't see your blog on this list please don't fret, I only chose my limit and know, I appreciate your blog too. Thank y'all for the creative and beautifully written blog's and I can't wait to see what 2013 will bring.

Do you know a blog that deserves an award?

Do you have special blogs that you love to read?

Which blogs do you bookmark and follow?

Would you like to give them an award this year?

Then the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award is for you!

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!

Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different!

When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!

There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

Which means that you can check out your favourite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Badges

Here are the six badges for you to collect – you can either ‘swop’ your badge for the next one each time you are given the award – or even proudly display all six badges if you are lucky enough to be presented with the award six times!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Barbara Catherine Stanwyck

Barbara Catherine Stanwyck(1),(2) born on the 16th of July in 1907(1),(2),(3)and passed away on the 20th of January in 1990(1)(3). Barbara's first marriage was on the 26th of August in 1928 to Frank Fay in St. Louis, Missouri.

(5)

Dion Anthony Fay, adopted by Barbara and Frank Fay, was born on the 5th of February, 1932(8).

(10)

It seems that Barbara and Frank Fay couldn't quite hold their marriage together and things were heading downhill according to this newspaper article on the 11th of December in 1935(11).

(11)

It also appears that their Divorce was less than desirable according to this newspaper snippet from the 23rd of December in 1937(12).

(12)

After her divorce from Frank, Barbara married celebrity Robert Taylor in 1940. They resided in Hollywood, California, USA. and were married for 11 years before they divorced on the 21st of February, 1951(15).

Robert Taylor

An actress of extraordinary talent and eternal beauty she appeared in 83 movies and a host of TV appearances.

Barbara Stanwyck, who died during the weekend, made her last film in 1964, but she found a new generation of fans with her television roles, including her portrayal of the matriarch in the Western series "The Big Valley. " Although nominated four times for Academy Awards during her 36-year big screen career, Stanwyck never won an Oscar for her acting. She was awarded a special Oscar in 1982 for lifetime achievement, and she earned three TV Emmy awards. Stanwyck, whose films included "Double Indemnity," "Stella Dallas," "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "Ball of Fire," died Saturday of congestive heart failure at 81. The actress displayed a versatile talent in her 83 movies and was reputed to be one of the easiest stars to work with.(6)

Barbara's given name was Ruby Catherine Stevens(2),(3)she was born in Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA.; her parent's were Byron E. Stevens and Catherine Ann McPhee(2),(3). Barbara's Mother, Mrs. Catherine Stevens was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, Kings, New York on the 1st of August in 1911(7,14). Barbara's Father, Byron left for Panama shortly after the death of Catherine. The fate of Byron is uncertain, all that is truly known is that he left and never returned(14).During the summers of 1916 and 1917, Ruby toured with Mildred, and practiced her sister's routines backstage. Watching the movies of Pearl White, whom Ruby idolized, also influenced her drive to be a performer. At age 14, she dropped out of school to take a job wrapping packages at a department store in Brooklyn. Ruby never attended high school, "although early biographical thumbnail sketches had her attend Brooklyn's famous Erasmus Hall High School". Soon after, she took a job filing cards at the Brooklyn telephone office for a salary of $14 a week, a salary that allowed her to become financially independent. She disliked both jobs; her real interest was to enter show business even as her sister Mildred discouraged the idea. She next took a job cutting dress patterns for Vogue, but because customers complained about her work, she was fired. Her next job was as a typist for the Jerome H. Remick Music Company, a job she reportedly enjoyed. But her continuing ambition was to work in show business and her sister finally gave up trying to dissuade her(16).Barbara Stanwyck aka Ruby Stevens was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1907 to Byron Stevens and Catherine McGee Stevens. Her pregnant mother died when a drunk pushed her off a moving trolley, not long before her father abandoned the family. Ruby was now an orphan at age four, she was raised in foster homes and by her older showgirl sister. At 13, she began working as a fashion model and by the age of 15 was in the Broadway chorine, a Ziegfeld chorus girl. Struggling from an early age, Ruby grew up with a strength and courage that most people don't achieve in a lifetime. Her determination to win against the odds only strengthen her will to make it big(1,4,14).Actress. She was a was a four time Academy Award -nominated motion picture actress whose career spanned from the 1920s beyond the 1980s, and was a forerunner of a long line of actors and singers born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York which at the time had many influencing live performance theatres and cultural centers which drew many with show business aspirations. Born Ruby Catherine Stevens, her childhood in Brooklyn was dismal. Her mother would be killed in a trolley accident when she was three and her father would simply vanish a few weeks after her mother's death while traveling to Panama to work on the canal construction. The family, Ruby the youngest, totaled five and would be split up. She and her brother Malcom were relegated to different foster families (Malcom would go on to Hollywood and also forge a successful show business career). At an early age, her older sister supported both children financially from earnings as a chorus girl while taking Ruby on the road three summers in a row, which sparked her interest in a show business career. Barely enrolled at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, she would be forced to quit and find work to support herself. A typing job with the Remick Music Company, with the help of the manager, landed her a job at a nightclub where she was taught to chorus dance. Bit parts led to Broadway Theater parts, with a debut in "The Noose." She became a major stage star in a subsequent show, "Burlesque" which brought her interest in Hollywood. She would go on to have a career that included over ninety motion pictures, four of which are considered many as classic films - "Stella Dallas" (Oscar nominated 1937), "Balls of Fire" (Oscar nominated 1941), "Double Indemnity" (Oscar nominated 1944), and "Sorry, Wrong Number" (Oscar nominated 1948). She turned to television in the mid-1950s when her movie career stared to wane, and her "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" consisted of thirty segments of drama and garnered her an Emmy for "Outstanding Actress". From 1965 to 1969, she played the matriarch of a family of ranchers in "The Big Valley" for which she received two more Emmys during the series and the Screen Actors Guild Award while named Photoplay's "Most Popular Female Star." Even though her health was impaired by emphysema, she played the passionate matriarch in the television 19802 miniseries "The Thorn Birds", where her performance brought yet another Emmy. In 1982, the Academy presented her an Honorary Oscar for superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting. Towards the end of the 1980s she had health complications, vision loss and spinal deterioration, but continued to perform, was presented the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986. Her final television appearance was in "The Colbys," a spin-off from the nighttime soap opera "Dynasty", and she died at 82 from congestive heart failure complicated by pneumonia and emphysema at St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica. She did not want a funeral and was directly cremated with her ashes scattered over Lone Pine, California the location where many of her movies and television scenes were filmed. She was the recipient of a Lincoln Center Life Achievement Award in 1983 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was also inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1973(17).